RPGnet Columns
04-13-2005, 08:01 AM
Post originally by brian at 2005-04-13 07:01:28
Converted from Phorums BB System
The D20 3.5 is a pretty damn good system. I play regularly with my 9 year old and he understands the rules perfectly, but also whips out some fairly complex moves -- flanking and aiding another, for example, to hit a high AC opponent, or positioning himself to grab some AOs.
The problem is in the storytelling. Wizards unveiled a hugely promising new milieu in Eberron, but the 1st three pubslished adventures have been lackluster.
There'be been some promising touches: DMs are encouraged to think about mood and setting, for example, and Ebberon does offer some great backdrops.
But the adventures themselves lack many of the qualities that make great (or evengood) genre fiction.
Eberron's writers have tried to create a more mature gaming experience by larding on layers of complexity -- this patron is working for that overlord, but really is secretly working for... None of which translates into exciting role-playing.
I think Wizards needs a story editor, someone who looks at the mechanics and the balance of an adventure and then asks basic questions about plot.
Why would characters go there? Why would they hate this villain enough to hunt him (or her) across a continent? How can we build tension from one step of the adventure to the next?
Here's the bottom line: D20 has been out for years -- a huge step foward in game mechanics -- but there still hasn't been a brilliant, iconic published adventure, one that players will be talking about ten years from now.
Why not?
Converted from Phorums BB System
The D20 3.5 is a pretty damn good system. I play regularly with my 9 year old and he understands the rules perfectly, but also whips out some fairly complex moves -- flanking and aiding another, for example, to hit a high AC opponent, or positioning himself to grab some AOs.
The problem is in the storytelling. Wizards unveiled a hugely promising new milieu in Eberron, but the 1st three pubslished adventures have been lackluster.
There'be been some promising touches: DMs are encouraged to think about mood and setting, for example, and Ebberon does offer some great backdrops.
But the adventures themselves lack many of the qualities that make great (or evengood) genre fiction.
Eberron's writers have tried to create a more mature gaming experience by larding on layers of complexity -- this patron is working for that overlord, but really is secretly working for... None of which translates into exciting role-playing.
I think Wizards needs a story editor, someone who looks at the mechanics and the balance of an adventure and then asks basic questions about plot.
Why would characters go there? Why would they hate this villain enough to hunt him (or her) across a continent? How can we build tension from one step of the adventure to the next?
Here's the bottom line: D20 has been out for years -- a huge step foward in game mechanics -- but there still hasn't been a brilliant, iconic published adventure, one that players will be talking about ten years from now.
Why not?